


Dreams of Snow and Ashes

by neuxue



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Zutara, Zutara Month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 12:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/723150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neuxue/pseuds/neuxue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko and Katara each hope for the other when it snows. Written for Day 17 of Zutara Month 2012: Snow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreams of Snow and Ashes

 

_Katara_

Back in the Southern Water Tribe, she almost believes nothing has changed. Once more she is surrounded by ice and snow, and once more she is waiting. Years ago – or is it a lifetime – she waited for her father. Now she waits for the Avatar, who flies around the world and visits her only sometimes; she travels too, and their paths rarely take them to the same places.  
  
There is another she waits for as well, but with little hope that he will come. For him she waits quietly. For him she waits in secret.  
  
She almost believes nothing has changed, yet the world is different now, and in some ways nothing is the same. She is no longer the only waterbender in the tribe, Sokka no longer the only man. All around her walls and bridges and homes have been built up from the ice. Laughter rings through the streets, ships come and go.  
  
None are the ships she longs to see. Those are things of the past. She never longed for them then, and misses them only now that they are gone.  
Even the snowfalls are different. Or rather, the snowfalls are the same, and yet she seeks a change. Once, the black snow fell when the Fire Nation came aboard ships of iron that cut through ice and blazed fire, tearing the village apart and leaving only screams and tears in their wake.  
  
Once the black snow inspired terror. Once the black snow was a sign of grief and pain to come.  
  
Now, she stares up at the sky and wonders when the snow will fall black once more with ash, when flames will once more grace her shores.  
  
Now, the black snow represents her hope, but it never falls, and the white snow is only disappointment.  
  
Still she watches the sky, and wonders when he will return to her.

 

*******

_Zuko_

His visits to the poles are rare, especially now. In the years immediately following the end of the war, he travelled frequently to every nation. Now ambassadors have taken that duty from him. The peace is secure now, they say. They don’t need him to visit the kings and chiefs and monks, they need him to rule his own nation.  
  
Long ago, he loved the summer, as most firebenders do. He loved the way the daylight stretched to fill the hours that in other seasons were consumed by darkness. The warmth would fill him with energy and light, and the gardens would bloom bright with fire lilies.  
  
Things have changed since his return. The days still grow long, and the fire lilies still brighten the courtyards of the palace, but now he longs for ice and snow, for a glimpse of the bright winter moon. After all, what good is fire if it is surrounded by fire? In a nation of crimson and gold, his flames are lost amongst all the others, their heat serves little purpose in the warm summer air. It is against ice that fire burns brightest.  
  
So he contents himself with walking along the tame little river, and waits for winter to come.  
  
There are mountains in the Fire Nation that are capped with snow in winter, and Zuko visits them each year without fail. There is sea surrounding all the islands, and rivers on most, but he imagines her best in snow.  
  
Standing in the snow and looking at the icy peaks, he can almost see her as she was, so many years ago when they faced the world together, fire and ice hand in hand. A time when the future stretched out full of possibilities, and they dared to dream of sharing it together. But he is here and she is far away, and that time is only a memory now.  
  
And still every year he visits the mountains and wonders if this time she will come, falling like snow into his outstretched arms to carry him away on the tide, without any need for wind. 


End file.
